Fluid conductivity measurements are used in a widespread number of applications. In various implementations, conductivity measurements can be used to determine the concentration of a constituent in the fluid being analyzed. In other cases, the conductivity of the fluid itself can be an important parameter for various uses of the fluid, such as requiring a fluid be sufficiently conductive or sufficiently insulating.
Various conductivity measuring devices have been developed. For example, contact sensors including one or more electrodes in communication with the fluid can be used to analyze the fluids electrical characteristics. In other examples, toroidal sensors can be used for measuring the conductivity of a fluid flowing through the center of the toroid.
Such sensors generally operate under the assumption that only the fluid is contributing to the measured conductivity of the fluid. However, in some cases, voids (e.g., air bubbles) trapped in the fluid can undesirably affect the sensor's ability to measure the conductivity. That is, the voids in the fluid often have different electrical characteristics than the fluid itself. The presence of such voids (e.g., flowing through toroidal sensors or contacting electrodes) can therefore skew the conductivity measurement so that the measured conductivity unpredictably represents the conductivities of the both the fluid and the void in an unknown instantaneous combination.
In some examples, the conductivity measurement is used to determine the concentration of one or more chemical species in a fluid. However, the chemical species itself may facilitate the formation of voids in the form of bubbles or foam in the fluid. Exemplary fluids in which this may occur include cleaning, washing, and sanitizing solutions. Thus, such bubbles or foam formed in such solutions can negatively impact the ability to measure the conductivity, and therefore, in some cases, a concentration, of the solution.